Bill Includes Bennet’s Provisions to Protect Workers, Environment and Fight Currency Manipulation
Bennet Now Seeking Assurances House will Include Key Provisions
Washington, DC – The Senate today passed a bill backed by Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet to strengthen our country’s enforcement of trade agreements. The bill includes several provisions authored by Bennet, including tools to strengthen environmental and labor protections and to crack down on countries like China that unfairly weaken their currency.
“Colorado stands to gain from trade agreements that are built on a level playing field,” Bennet said. “We can make future trade agreements better for our workers and businesses if we can enforce higher standards in these deals. This bill takes steps to ensure we have the tools we need to protect our workers and the environment and to ensure our trading partners uphold their commitments, particularly on currency manipulation.”
During the Senate Finance Committee’s debate of a package of four trade bills, Bennet secured a bipartisan amendment with Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) that would create additional remedial measures to enforce rules against currency manipulation from countries such as China, including barring a violator from participating in future trade agreements.
Bennet also secured an amendment to give the United States authority to take all appropriate action, including retaliation, to fight back against any of our trading partners’ laws, practices, or policies that violate environmental standards.
Bennet cosponsored an amendment that would provide U.S. firms and workers relief against foreign producers that sell in the U.S. below market price or receive illegal subsidies.
Trade is an important issue for Colorado’s economy. Nearly 6,000 farms and businesses rely on exporting goods and services to foreign markets. Close to 90 percent of those companies are small or mid-sized businesses. Colorado farms and businesses exported $8.4 billion in made-in-America goods last year. Exports are particularly important to Colorado’s agricultural sector. For example, Colorado wheat growers export more than 80 percent of what they produce.
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